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Last week was full of all the feels. An end of an era really. My time working and coaching at Up and Running has come to an end. On Tuesday we had a celebration and I was super surprised when my awesome boss awarded me with a beautiful plaque. Cue tears. Damn it, I wasn't gonna cry.

I had kind of forgotten how many training groups I had coached and it was cool to see them listed all together. A lot of my runners came from current and previous groups and it was so great to see them. I feel very lucky that I was hired at Up and Running and that I got to work for and with so many amazing people and gain so many friends. I will really miss coaching and hope I can do more of it in the future.

There was also ice cream involved but we forgot to get it out at the party so guess who got to take it all home. Not mad about that....that's okay, fitting in your pants is overrated.

Because I really wanted to cry more than once last week, on Thursday I had dinner with my half and full mar…

Yes I went to Arizona to run a marathon but this race review will be mostly about food. As it should be....
Karen, Sarah, Michelle and I hit the open desert road Friday morning to drive to Mesa. Michelle was nice enough to not only drive but to do it in her brand new Jeep. My car was new in 2002 so that new car smell was intoxicating. Plus I forget how high tech stuff is now. I mean my car has a CD player....the end. New cars are pretty amazing. After about six hours of Madonna and other 80s awesomeness (thank you mix master Michelle) and a pit stop at In & Out in Tucson to refuel we arrived at Sarah's mom's house. Linda was kind enough to not only let us stay at her place but also stocked up on wine, delicious treats and chauffeured us around all weekend. What more could you ask for!?!
After laying around recovering from the hard work of riding in the car all day we put on real clothes (I was warned ahead of time that this would be the case.....this might have also been …

My friend Cat over at My Heart's Content had a great idea to highlight the best places to run in your area. So this is running 101: El Paso Edition.

Places to Run:The Canals

There is a long line of irrigation canals that run through the the west side of town towards the New Mexico border. You can do varying lengths of runs out there including long runs on a dirt surface. The canals also hook up with the Rio Grande river so you can run along that as well....sometimes there is even water. The easiest way to access the canals is to park at State Line Barbecue Restaurant cross Sunland Park on foot and head towards the New Mexico border on the sidewalk until you meet up with the canals or the river on the right hand side. Hit up 150 Sunset for brunch after. Mount Cristo Rey
Or as I refer to it, the Big Jesus. This statue can be seen from afar throughout the city. Located right across the border in Sunland Park New Mexico, this is a dirt trail up to the top and quite a climb. While there …

Well I have trained fairly well for this.....as in I actually got in a 20 mile long run and besides my knee still being a bit wonky, am not injured. I am super grateful I had my amazing training group I was coaching at the same time to train with. They made it so much more fun than training on my own. If you can find a group of crazy people who you can convince to run for multiple hours at a time with you I highly recommend it. I love my tribe of crazy weirdo runners. They are the absolute best.

Unfortunately for me the weather for the marathon is predicted to be a bit warm. Low of 55, high of 86.

I would prefer the high to be 55 because I do better in cooler weather. But seeing as I have yet discovered how to control the weather I guess I will just have to roll with it. Keep it easy and drink lots of electrolytes. I am a completer not a competitor so shouldn't be too hard.

I always find it hard to set goals for the marathon. Well beyond the goal of not dying. No matter how many I…

This past weekend I got to do some fun hiking up in the Franklin Mountains. About 10.25 miles round trip and quite a bit of elevation climb, 1,898 feet according to my Garmin. Here are some of my favorite shots.

It is funny how just walking can wear you out and make you sore in a different way from running and how walking uphill reminds you that you are really not in that great of shape. It is also weird that there was still snow towards the top. Not used to that in the desert. 4 more days until the marathon!

Well technically it is taper time. Which I have never really been any good at. But I have been trying to back off a bit.Monday: 1 mile since my ankles and feet were still really sore from the 16 miles of trail fun on the Saturday before.

Tuesday: Body weight and kettlebell fun in the morning, 4 windy miles in the evening.

Wednesday: 1 mile

Thursday: 2 miles and body weight, bosu, kettlebell fun again.

Friday: 4 easy miles round my neighborhood.

Saturday: 10.25 miles of hiking fun with my friends Michelle and Kim up to Mundy's Gap. Tough but fun.

Sunday: 13 miles with my training group. Last long run with them before the half and full marathon. They did amazing.

Fair warning it is country, but the kind of country I love. You probably already know her by the mega hit Burning House
but her entire album is great.NFL Bad Lipreading

Someone showed me this at work and I could not stop laughing. So funny. And I could really care less about football.....except the Broncos. GO BRONCOS!

Olympics 2016 and all the inspirational videos coming out.

Kara Goucher
Ashley Higginson

I am excited that I am running a marathon on the same weekend as the Olympic Trials. Not really sure why, it will take me twice the time (at least) as those women running at the trials and it is not like we are running the same marathon but I still think it is pretty cool.
Off this weekend for some trail fun and my last longish run with my training group. Have a great weekend!

The other day at work an elderly gentleman told me that.
Good girl. After he requested and I brought him a shoe horn.

Good girl.
And those two simple words made my blood boil. And it has
boiled for days now. At the time I let it go. For one, the customer is always
right (nope, hardly ever, but we just go with it). And two, I chalked it up to the
fact that most of his existence has probably been during the times of isms-
racism and sexism. He was probably confused about what I was doing out of the
house working. From a time where all women apparently were girls, including
those in their 30s. I know I perhaps look young for my age (maybe if I am not standing under harsh florescent light that highlights every single crows feet...). But I am clearly not a girl, seeing as how I am clearly not in
elementary school.

This whole thing got me thinking about the world girl. I use
it. “Looking good girl”, “Get it girl” while training women. My trail running group
I call, and think of in my head,…

I like to run. I am not fast, more of a plodder. This used to bug me until I realized that after a few semi-serious injuries just being able to run is a gift. My goals are to stay healty and injury free as I train and run all kinds of races. Why? Because why not?